


The Silence of the Stars

by niveuos



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: ??? maybe, Angst, Domestic, Established Relationship, Flashbacks to the beginning of their relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Nostalgia, Panic Attacks, camping quest, caring!Will, could be pre or post toa doesn't matter, sad!Nico
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-09
Updated: 2016-10-09
Packaged: 2018-08-20 08:58:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8243701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/niveuos/pseuds/niveuos
Summary: Will and Nico go on a quest up a mountain and Nico looks a whole lot different out so beautifully in the open like this.





	

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote this for a friend's birthday lol but i decided why not post here too !!! also im still a bit high rn so i was like lmao why not so its probably not proofread well  
> it's been such a long time ive written something that wasnt smutty and i miss it so much rip i remember when i never wrote smut ahahah what a lol

From the very beginning, Will knew it was probably a less-than-great idea to go on a camping quest alone with Nico di Angelo. There was meant to be some sort of ancient memorabilia at the top of a mountain or something but Will honestly didn't know the details when he was too busy marvelling over the side of Nico's face glowing in the campfire light the evening the quest was announced. Nico had to ask him three times before he broke out of his trance and he almost said no on reflex, because outside wasn't safe and the camp needed him and he'd never been on a quest before but then Nico was giving him these eyes and the tiniest smile and gods, he was so far gone he said yes without a single thought. Now, he knew he was starting to face the consequences.

Because Nico's eyes shimmered so beautifully in front of their makeshift campfire every evening. Because his hair was longer than it used to be and shifted every time the wind blew stubbornly past and he had to push it away with the tips of his long, delicate fingers. Because he smiled and laughed a lot more freely when no one else was around. Because Will was alone with him and struggling to keep to himself. Because his boyfriend was more beautiful than any of the gods and Will knew that if they were attacked he would be absolutely useless, too busy worrying about Nico to even comprehend fighting back. Because of his legs. Because of his lips.

"Will?" Will looked up. Nico was standing above him by the fire, looking a tad concerned. "You haven't said anything in a while. Was just wondering if you were okay."

Will laughed nervously. "Just thinking," he offered in terms of explanation, resting his chin on his hand as he stared up at Nico, unable to stop the smile coming to his lips. He was never capable of looking at Nico and not smiling. It honestly wasn't fair.

"No bad things, I hope?" Nico teased, bopping his nose.

Will giggled childishly, swatting the hand away. "Wouldn't dream of it." Nico smiled, too, until he seemed to remember a different reason for coming over.

"Listen, I'm just gonna go for a bit of a walk before it gets too dark, alright?" he said, hand resting on Will's shoulder lightly.

"But we've been walking all day," Will complained, pouting. He wanted to spend some time with Nico before they had to go to sleep and then keep walking bright and early the next morning. It was a very tall mountain, and the pair of them weren't incredibly fast.

"I know, but I just wanna have a look around, I'll be back before you know it," he promised, bending down to leave a ghost of a kiss on his forehead before heading off between the trees, leaving Will alone.

Will frowned. This was unlike Nico. The dark haired boy hadn't been very fond of being left alone after everything that had happened, back when he was a ten year old boy with nothing but ghosts to keep him company. Will had always wanted to ask him about the ghosts that had haunted him from the day of his sister's death, if they came back to visit him sometimes, if he let them touch his skin until he resembled their pale complexions so often the pigments never returned to a warmer colour.

In the light of the campfire, Will reflected on his own journey with Nico. Not just their quest but all the times before that, how they'd gotten together, how he'd spent months sucking the demons out of Nico's chest until he could breathe enough to speak to Will properly, without the sad silence or choking gasps in between. Upon Nico's return to the camp Will had become almost his personal doctor, since he couldn't seem to stay away from the dark haired wonder. Nico has pretended to hate it, at first, all the pitiful attention, the blond boy fluttering around him so worriedly all the time just to make sure he wouldn't do anything stupid to punish himself again. He soon learned that Will didn't pity him at all, and that he didn't even think Nico needed all that much help but he was too attached to his little song of sadness to stay away. Will smiled, reflecting on their first few interactions after the fall of Gaia, the ones that made him so addicted to Nico's taste that he struggled to depart from him for too long.

 ***

"You need to stop sparring with the Zeus boy, he injures you too much," Will scolding, bandaging up Nico's arm despite his protests. Nico wouldn't look him in the eyes but that didn't mean Will couldn't catch the faint blush on his cheeks.

"He's tough. Makes me stronger," he grumbled, shifting away as soon as Will had finished, not looking him in the eyes. Will sighed. For a little while during the kerfuffle of the fight and briefly after, Nico had been fine talking to Will and making friends, but recently, he was closing himself off, causing Will to worry. Was he planning something else? Did he want to run away again?

"Well you can't bloody well fight him while your arm's like this. Take a break for a few days. Try archery or something," Will insisted, using hand sanitiser because of habit, refusing to take his eyes off Nico even though Nico wouldn't meet them. He looked so uncomfortable it made Will's chest hurt, but he was determined to make this boy open up to him if it was the very last thing he did.

"I've had worse," Nico muttered, voice breaking at the end and Will's heart broke a little too.

"Nico- " Will began, but Nico was good at avoidance, and when he heard that tone he knew what was soon to follow.

Nico stood up. "Thanks for bandaging my arm." And then he was gone.

Will sighed. He knew this was going to be a little bit more difficult than he originally envisioned.

* 

Late one evening, just before curfew and after the sun had gone down, Will spotted a figure down by the beach standing on his own. Will didn't need to check to know it was Nico.

"Anything interesting out there?" Will asked, approaching. Nico didn't jump. Will hadn't expected him to.

"Not really."

The silence was so awkward for Will he felt completely consumed by it. The seconds ticked by, Will's hands in his pockets, heart racing. Why did he have to develop a crush on a boy that was so difficult to read? He'd been bothering him for several weeks, patching him up when the slightest thing went wrong, saying hello whenever he saw him even if he didn't receive one back. It was so overwhelming depressing that Will felt bad for himself.

"I'm sorry for being around you so much. I can stop, I know it's probably super annoying, I don't mean to- "

"No. I don't mind. I like having you around," Nico interrupted, still not looking towards Will, eyes still staring out at nothing in the ocean black and Will really wished he could read the boy's mind.

"What? Okay, that's good, I mean you don't really act like- "

"I know," he interrupted again, but didn't say anything else. They stood silently for a little while longer, the aftermath of the waves of the ocean not quite reaching their feet, as if Poseidon was afraid that if he got too close Nico would run away again, too.

"C'mon," Will said after a while, lightly touching Nico on the shoulder. He didn't flinch, which surprised Will in a way that sent butterflies galloping up his throat. "It's almost curfew."

And then Nico did the most surprising thing. He turned to Will, and smiled, and then walked away without another word.

If Will didn't have some slither of dignity left in his system, he would have melted into the sand.

*

It wasn't until two weeks later that they properly held a conversation. It came as a huge surprise to Will, because he didn't even have to start the conversation himself. It was Nico that made the first initiation.

Will was sitting outside the Apollo cabin, taking notes about different types of venom from various monsters and how to treat them, when Nico sat down next to him. "What makes you so interested in all this medical stuff, anyway? It confuses me," he said, leaning over to read some of Will's notes and screwing his eyebrows together. Will tried not to let the shock show on his face, because up until then they'd really only interacted over required medical reasons and even then, Will did almost all of the talking.

"Genetics, to start with," he said, putting in a bookmark and places his notes away. If Nico was talking to him, he wasn't going to waste the opportunity to make a proper connection by taking notes about the lethal nature of the Hydra.

"But heaps of Apollo kids prefer music, poetry or archery. And you chose healing."

"People have different hobbies regardless of where they came from. I guess I always just wanted to help people rather than hurt them. Also, I do like music and I play it pretty well. Poetry... I'm not so good at that." To Will's greatest surprise, Nico chuckled ever so slightly, hand holding his chin, eyes twinkling with curiosity. This was the most alive Will had ever seen Nico before, but even then, there was something darker hiding behind his expression, something terrifying and alive and hurting Nico from the inside out. Will had the strongest desire to terminate it, whatever it was.

"I feel like you're the kind of person who could be good at anything, if you tried," Nico mused, caused Will's heart to jump so high in his throat he felt like he would choke on it. It wasn't fair that this boy who said so few words could steal Will's fancy so quickly, with so much ease.

Before Will could begin to try and form a reply, since his mind had gone utterly blank at Nico's kind and thoughtful words, the dark haired boy spoke again. "Anyway, I should let you get back to your work stuff. See you round, Will." With a quick pat of Will's head, Nico was gone, leaving Will in such a shocked state he didn't think he'd ever be able to think about Hydras the same way again.

*

It was the middle of the night when Will finally began to see the inner torment of Nico's tortured soul. The boy had hurt himself shadow travelling again, and Nico refused to stay in the infirmary again so had trudged back to his cabin defiantly, ignoring Will's protests all the way to the door. Because of this Will had spent the entire evening tossing and turning, unable to sleep, worried about Nico's health and state. Tired and annoyed, he exited his room just to check the Hades cabin to make sure Nico was okay.

Creaking the door open slowly just in case Nico was asleep, Will's eyes fell upon the most heartbreaking sight he ever saw. There Nico was, curled up on the floor in the corner of the room, bawling his eyes out so quietly Will knew he had learned to master the art of silent suffering. His mouth was open in a soundless scream, tears streaming down his face, as he rocked from side to side and gasped helplessly on occasion just to get some air into his lungs.

Will was quick to slam the door behind him and skid to the floor at Nico's side. He knew this wasn't a physical problem at all; it was all mental, everything inside Nico's head was hurting him more than any shadow travelling ever could. Despite Will's desire to hold him close, he knew that could just repel the trembling boy further away from him.

"Oh, Nico," Will sighed breathily, unable to think of much else to say. Nico wouldn't look at him, but he knew his presence had been acknowledged.

"They're everywhere. The monsters, Will, they're everywhere..." he choked, eyes squeezing shut as Will's mind reeled.

"Nico, I promise there aren't any monsters here. It's just you and me. We're safe," he whispered, trying not to cry because the sight before him was so absolutely gut wrenching he didn't know how else to handle it but with tears.

"Not here. They're not here," Nico insisted, shaking his head. "Inside me, Will. The monsters are inside me." And Will's heart broke just that little bit more.

Will didn't know how he did it, but somehow he managed to coax Nico into being carried to bed, whispering comforting words into his ear to calm him down. Once he was certain the tears had stopped and the panic was gone, he whispered a final goodbye and made a move to leave, even though every muscle in his body was telling him not to.

"Stay," Nico whispered, reaching out a hand.

So Will did.

 ***

Thinking back on it now, it really was a treacherous journey, Will deduced, mind directed back to the fire in front of him, flickering him into the present. At some point he had begun strumming aimlessly on his ukulele, singing to himself softly, a song about something sad and someone hurting. Will thought it was fitting. He looked up, noticing how dark it had gotten, and felt a spike of worry upon realising that Nico still hadn't returned. How long had it been since he'd gone for his walk? Ages, surely. He said he'd be back before dark and it was most definitely dark by now.

"Nico?" Will called out worriedly, ceasing his music and standing up, searching the surrounding forest for signs of movement. There was nothing but a fluttering bird, a whisper of the wind and the call of a wolf in the distance.

When he didn't get a response, he started off in the same direction Nico had headed earlier, calling his name at regular intervals. The longer he walked the more anxious he became, because Nico wasn't answering and the light of the fire was slowly fading into the distance. There was a sickness in Will's stomach that was spreading rapidly, causing the urge to vomit to increase with every passing second.

When Will finally saw him, he felt his heart break again, just like it did when he cast eyes upon him in the corner of his room that night so many months ago.

There he was. Nico, against a tree, gasping for breath, tears streaming down his face as he clutched himself so tightly Will thought he was going to break his own ribs. The flowers around Nico's feet had turned to wilted dust, tree only barely supporting him, eyes twitching as they occasionally rolled back into his head. The bushes behind him looked mangled and twisted, meaning that Nico had been headed his way and collapsed, unable to take another step.

"Will," he choked, reaching out, and Will fell to his side faster than the first time, and this time he knew what to do.

"Sweetheart," he whispered, holding him close, before quickly lifting him up in his arms to take him back to their tent. Nico wasn't safe out here, physically and mentally.

"I was coming back, the darkness caved in, it surrounded me so fast- " he gasped, letting out his sobs, breaking the silence for Will, breaking his silence because he knew Will would care for him regardless. Will didn't need him to hide his suffering.

"I know, honey, shhhh," Will comforted, trudging back through the forest with purpose, every step pulling him back to the earth like the weight of stones but he stumbled forward, determined, eyes on the campfire light in the distance. The weight of Nico's sobbing on his mind made everything just that little bit harder, as he felt like the whole sky was closing in on him and he briefly wondered how Percy had ever been capable of holding the weight of it because even this felt like it would crush his shoulders in seconds if he gave it the chance to.

Somehow, they made it back, and Will released him into their tent, letting out a deep breath at the sudden release of weight, collapsing in after him.

"I don't- " Nico stuttered, eyes closed as he curled up in defence, but his hand was slightly reached out in a silent plea for Will to join him. "I don't want to talk about it. I want to talk about something else."

Will understood. He exited the tent for just a moment to pack up everything, grabbing the ukulele he'd dropped in his panic and climbed back into their tent, zipping it up behind him. Nico was all ready for bed, but he knew they wouldn't be sleeping for a while, not after this. There was a lantern lighting the small space and as Will looked down at Nico's tired but thankful face he'd never felt more at home.

"What do you want to talk about?" he asked, getting comfortable, smiling softly in order to calm Nico down further. He wanted to ask what happened, why he didn't make it back in time, why he hadn't told Will he still had fears of the dark, but now wasn't the time, not like this. Now was the time to make Nico smile again.

"Tell me about us."

And Will didn't need to ask what he meant.

"I was so incredibly nervous before our first kiss. Like, I knew it was about to happen, sitting on your bed talking about my childhood and you had this look in your eyes and I felt like my stomach was going to explode with butterflies. You were so beautiful," Will began, getting lost in the memory of a warm afternoon in Nico's cabin, oblivious to anything but the shine of Nico's rare smile. "Your eyes flickered to my lips and I was thinking, oh my gods, this is it, and you were leaning in so smoothly but I couldn't even breathe properly."

"Trust me, I was nervous too. Apparently I have a pretty good 'chill' expression. In Percy's words, not mine."

"That was such a good kiss. Such a good one," Will sighed, remembering the softness of Nico's lips, how they'd parted so gracefully and the slickness of his tongue...

"Better than the one we had the other day?" Nico teased, causing Will to blush. They'd made out after curfew in Nico's cabin and Will had never felt so rebellious in his entire life, which Nico laughed at hysterically once this thought had been expressed.

Will smacked him lightly on the shoulder. "Don't be a dick." But they both knew it was a joke.

"When did you realise you liked me?" Nico asked curiously, still smiling, and Will just wanted to give him the world.

"No idea. I just remember you touching me and it felt different from everyone else and I just knew."

Nico smiled again, wider, and kept asking questions. Will continued to answer him, until all the fear was gone from Nico's eyes, until every thought of the nature of Nico's walk had left their surroundings until it was just Nico and Will and Will and Nico.

When Nico started to drift off, Will played his ukulele and sang him to sleep. As Nico slept, Will thought. Will thought about all sorts of things. Like the way Nico had scars he still wouldn't talk about. Like the twitch of Nico's wrist every time he swung his sword, with determination, with purpose. He thought about all the times Nico had made him smile and all the times he'd fallen to bed with Nico on his mind. He allowed the swirling feelings in his stomach to envelop him in emotion, letting the midnight quaintness lure him to his sleeping bag, allowing the butterflies to escape his mouth and swirl around Nico's head like a halo.

There was a quality to this adventure that Will just couldn't place. And that was okay, really. He didn't understand what had happened that evening. He didn't understand a lot of anything when it came to Nico di Angelo. However, he was the boy who got to trace Nico's sleeping lips with his own two eyes, he got to sweep his fingers through his twilight hair and slender neck. For as long as he needed a place to stay, Nico's arms would always be open and he knew what his answer would be if someone asked where the place was that he called home.

There was a wolf howling in the distance again, but Will wasn't afraid. There were far worse fates out there besides wolves. All he needed to do was touch Nico's cheek one last time and close his eyes, and the world didn't seem to be spinning quite so fast anymore, and the sky looked a lot less like a void that could swallow him whole and a whole lot more like a canvas for the stars.

**Author's Note:**

> hope u like imnot the proudest of it bc i haven't written something like this in ages so lol no judging


End file.
